A New York politician has dropped a federal lawsuit alleging that Google profits from child pornography.
Jeffrey Toback, a Democratic legislator in Nassau County NY, had filed suit in May alleging that Google had “paid links” to Internet sites offering child pornography.
Toback told the press that he had dropped the suit because Google has offered to sit down and discuss the question. “They didn’t want to do that while litigation was pending, so we’re taking them up on their offer,” Toback told the Associated Press, adding that he hoped to set up a meeting with Google “at their earliest convenience.”
“If Mr. Toback would like to talk with us about something, he should consider approaching it with a phone call, letter or other common form of communication, not an irresponsible lawsuit,” Google spokesman Steve Langdon told AP.
Toback’s suit charged that Google profited from permitting sites that contain child pornography and obscene content to advertise through pay-per-click sponsored links keyed to adult-content search terms. Most industry observers and legal advisors had expected that the judge would grant Google a motion of dismissal.
